L. V. Johnston:  

and ended up travelling across the southern tier of states on out to Cali. Spent a few months there and got _real_ tired of all the wannabes and posers. Heard every line that I could imagine as to why the person hadn't made it just yet. Way to many crazies. I decided that the heartland was where I should be. Called a friend from a band I'd worked with in Champaign County and he agreed to let me crash at his house here in Rantoul. Stayed with him until I got steady work (thanks again, Dale!). The day gig ended up being at a pizza shop making pizza's at Papa Del's - they still have their store on campus in Champaign and make the best deep dish pizza in this part of the country. While working at Pop's, I had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of a lovely young girl who took my breath away. I asked her out, she said yes! After about a year, I asked her to marry me, she said yes! Twenty years later, I'd ask her all over again ;-) After seeing how the work/dating thing messed up one's chances at advancement, for her sake I took a gig as a night auditor at the local Holiday Inn Sunday through Monday (did I mention that I worked as bellhop while I was in Alabama?). I continued to work with various secular music groups here and there. I started to get burnt out from the extreme hours that that job required and then playing till closing time on the weekends. As there are loads of great musical talent in this area pay was not that great - made better in Cali!. I ended up going back to church with my new bride. It didn't take long for the spirit to grab my by the shirttails and let me know that He had other plans for me. I started teaching guitar. I started my music store as a lesson studio in the extra bedroom of our home in Rantoul. The only problem was that the place got way too small when I found out that Roxanne was expecting our first child. My storage room for my gear was to be the nursery :) I was working at a store in Champaign giving lessons and helping them out on the floor setting up displays and demoing gear for the college students. I found a small store front in Rantoul to move the lesson studio into and they gave me a small amount of consignment goods to see if it would be worth their while to have another branch here as well in Champaign. After a while, I decided that I would prefer not to have someone looking over my shoulder so I severed ties with them. I survived in this area for another 5 years, but after it was announced that Chanute AFB was going to close, the local banks went through a consolidation phase (can you say receivership?). It so happened that a bank that only wanted to clean up - not help (ouch) bought out the one where I'd done the most of my business!. Many others were affected in the same way, but this was what led me to submit an application to Vesuvius. 10+ years later, I now have three kids, still work for them and play music every week.